The Governor has signed the Early Termination
Bill into law which will allow you some more flexibility in
charging liquidated damages or an early termination fee to a
tenant who leaves before the end of the lease term. In order to
take advantage of the new law, a specific addendum must be
entered into at the time of lease signing under which the tenant
either chooses to pay a liquidated damage amount or early
termination fee upon vacating early, or pay rent until the unit
is re-rented.

The new Florida Budget has become law, and as a
result, counties will be raising the eviction filing fees. When
budgeting for evictions, expect your county charges to add at
least $200.00 to each eviction that you file beginning July 1,
2008. The days of $80.00 filing fees are over, and our state
government now hopes to raise an additional $29,000,000.00 off
of the backs of already cash strapped landlords from eviction
filings alone.

It
is inevitable that you will have a chronic late payer. Every
excuse in the book is given by the tenant for the tardy payment,
but the payment always comes, sometimes with the late fees,
sometimes without the late fees. You may inherit a late payer
from a self-managed property or a prior management company. Is a
tenant always allowed to pay late? Can you evict a late payer?
Is there any way to tell a tenant to shape up or ship out, or
will you be destined to always accept late payments?

Fire, flood,
hurricane, theft, lightning strike? It will never happen to you,
right? Each year we see our clients lose important data, have
severe business interruptions and lose time and money due to
unanticipated events. As asset managers, you have a serious
duty and obligation to your owner to preserve data and be able
to continue your operations when disaster strikes. Most property
managers rely on an in-office back up, tapes or CD’s, and this
is not nearly enough. We are ready for just about anything. Are
you?Click hereto see if
you are protected.

The forms you are using have come from many sources. The prior
property manager, a landlord/tenant law book, the prior owner of
the company or apartment community, the corporate office, the
internet, and the high paid attorney in the skyscraper in
Chicago all have contributed to your “toolbox” of forms and
notices. The problem is that you assume that just because you
are provided with a form or notice, it must be legal or proper
to use. It is time to do a forms and notice review and see if
you are using the correct tools or incorrect or obsolete ones.

The garbage disposal breaks, and of course it must be replaced
or repaired, as this type of item is the landlord’s
responsibility, unless the landlord can prove that the repair
need is due to the tenant’s negligence or misuse. Can it simply
be removed and replaced with a straight pipe? Yes, if the lease
specifically states this.Tenants have successfully lived
for years without a garbage disposal, and in these tough
economic times, a landlord just may choose to not have to
replace one if it breaks. The key is the lease wording. Garbage
disposals are not the only items which can be excluded from a
tenancy, and a successful property manager knows what, when and
how to exclude items.

Your maintenance tech parks the company golf cart outside an
apartment and performs a service call. A child living on the
property hops in, turns it on, joy rides through the community,
sideswipes cars and ends up in your alligator infested retention
pond. Does it happen? All the time.
Whose fault is this?
If the keys are left in the golf cart, or can be operated
without a key, your company can incur some serious liability for
injury to persons or property. Take steps now to prevent these
occurrences, and get with your maintenance staff right away.
This is a completely preventable problem.

It is a Monday
morning, and whatever could go wrong that day already has. A
prospective tenant comes into your office as planned and wants
to look at the home you have advertised. Super nice person, well
dressed, and well spoken. The home is nearby the office, and
you give the key or the lock box combination to the prospect so
he can run over and look at the property. The prospect liked the
house so much that he decided to move in that day. Problem is,
you did not find out about it until you realized the key was
never returned. No lease, no money, nothing. Will the police
remove the person as a trespasser? Probably not. Can you
change the locks? Nope. YOU have a problem now, and will be
forced to file an ejectment action in court, which could take a
long time at great expense. (Oh, and the owner will not be
happy).

As an operator
of a self storage facility, there are many situations when fees
or charges are imposed. These fees and charges are and should be
clearly listed in your lease agreement with your tenant. The
question arises though: are these fees legal? Just because your
contract provides for them and all parties have agreed, it is
crucial that you know for sure that the fees or charges that you
impose are in fact legal and will not get you into hot water.

THE FAIR HOUSING CORNER - NO SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER? NO
PROBLEMBy Cathy L. Lucrezi, Attorney at Law

Nearly
every application for housing asks the applicant to provide his
social security number. The purpose is to have a type of
identification available so that a credit and criminal
background check can be done. Unfortunately, not everyone has a
social security number. What does that mean, and what can a
landlord do about it?

Ginny Decker
is a District Manager with Empirian Property Management, Inc.
responsible for overseeing eight multifamily communities in
Orlando and Gainesville, Florida.

Beginning her
property management career in Gainesville as a leasing
consultant with Colonial Properties Trust, while attending the
University of Florida, Ginny graduated from
UF with her B.A. in Elementary Education, and decided to pursue
a career path in property management in lieu of teaching. After
holding an assistant manager position with Colonial, she tested
her skills in a different market and made a move to Atlanta,
GA, holding a Regional Marketing position with Archon
Residential for two years, and then moving into a community
management role with Julian LeCraw & Company for the next four
years. During this time, Ginny achieved her CAM designation
through the Atlanta Apartment Association and was able to use
her background in education to facilitate some of the training
programs offered to LeCraw associates, an opportunity she truly
enjoyed.

Ginny has
become very involved with the Apartment Association of Greater
Orlando (AAGO) and the Florida Apartment Association (FAA),
currently serving as the AAGO Legislative Committee chair.
Recently, Ginny made an important impact while fighting a
burdensome fire assessment in the city of Winter Springs,
successfully mobilizing property managers and making the
industry’s voice heard loud and clear.

During football season, Ginny devotes her
Saturday’s to Gator football; she is an avid reader, enjoys
spoiling her dog, an American Eskimo named Riley, and traveling.
After exploring Ireland last November, she is counting down the
days to her upcoming trip to Italy in August. Ginny is a real up
and comer in the industry, and we all look forward to her
continued industry leadership!